Scout camps and outdoor youth programs have been using custom apparel for over a century, long before print-on-demand made it accessible to every troop size. The tradition of the camp shirt is baked into scouting culture because it signals membership, shared experience, and achievement.
What has changed is how easy it is to get quality custom shirts without a large upfront order. Councils can now run their own merch stores. Individual troops can outfit for a single trip. And outdoor education programs can offer shirts as part of their graduation experience, all without managing inventory.
In scouting culture, what you wear communicates history. Patches carry rank. Uniforms signal belonging. A custom camp shirt from a specific session or high-adventure trip becomes part of that visual record.
For outdoor youth programs outside traditional scouting, the shirt often plays the same role. Wilderness education graduates, leadership corps alumni, and backcountry trip participants frequently cite the shirt as one of the items they keep the longest from the experience.
From a program standpoint, custom shirts serve several practical functions. They improve group visibility during travel and public activities. They create a cohesive identity that strengthens group bonding. And they function as marketing when worn in public, extending your program's reach without any additional effort.
Scout and outdoor programs have different demands than a typical gym or fitness camp. The shirt needs to handle sweat, outdoor conditions, and repeated washing over a multi-week or multi-season period.
Performance moisture-wicking tees are the most practical choice for active outdoor programming. The Men's Moisture-Wicking Tee by Sport-Tek and the Youth Moisture-Wicking Performance Tee handle heat and activity without clinging or showing sweat. These are ideal for high-adventure courses, nature programs, and any camp with significant physical activity.
Cotton tees remain popular for councils and programs where the shirt is more of a keepsake than a workout garment. The Airlume Cotton Athletic Tee and the Youth Airlume Cotton Athletic Tee offer excellent print quality for detailed scout-camp designs.
Long-sleeve options serve programs in higher elevations, northern climates, or shoulder seasons where warmth matters. The Youth Performance Long Sleeve by Sport-Tek covers younger participants in active programs that run into cooler mornings and evenings.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Scout camp shirt design has its own visual language built around outdoor imagery, achievement symbolism, and geography. The best designs reference something specific: the name of the mountain range, the year of the session, the high-adventure activity that defined the trip.
A few design approaches that consistently work for scout and outdoor programs:
When designing for multi-age programs, consider creating a shared design family where the core mark is consistent but the color changes by age group or troop. This gives the program a cohesive identity while letting different groups have something distinct.
Scout programs exist at two scales: the council level, which coordinates dozens of camps and thousands of participants, and the individual troop level, which might have 8 to 20 kids going on a single trip.
A Bear Grips Pro Shop works for both. Councils can run a year-round shop with their standard branded apparel available for purchase by any member across multiple camps. Individual troops can set up a shop for a specific trip, share the link with families, take orders over a two-week window, and let everything ship directly to each family's home.
For councils, the Done-For-You VIP plan offers the most value. A dedicated shop advisor builds and manages the shop monthly, ensures seasonal products are updated, and handles all the mockup and setup work. Council leaders focus on programming while the merch side runs itself.
For individual troops on tighter budgets, the free plan is a viable starting point. Three products, clean design, direct-to-family shipping. The troop pays nothing until families start ordering.
Most scout councils and youth outdoor programs operate on thin margins. Fundraising is constant. A print-on-demand shop is one of the lowest-effort revenue channels available because the families are already motivated buyers.
Parents and participants want the shirt. They are going to buy it somewhere. Running a shop through Bear Grips Pro Shops means the revenue from every sale comes back to the program rather than going to a third-party retailer.
Simple revenue math for a 150-participant summer program: if 80 percent of families buy one shirt at a $15 profit margin, that is $1,800 in passive revenue. Add hoodies at a $20 profit margin with 40 percent attachment, and you add another $1,200. A 150-participant program generates over $3,000 in shop revenue with zero inventory investment.
Councils with multiple camps and sessions can multiply this across their entire calendar year, creating a meaningful supplemental revenue stream that scales with enrollment.
Set up a custom apparel shop for your council, camp, or troop. No minimum orders, free shipping, and direct-to-family delivery.
Start FreeYes. Bear Grips Pro Shops are set up by the individual business owner, whether that is a council, a camp director, or a troop leader. You do not need institutional approval to launch a shop for a specific trip or program.
At least three weeks before the session is ideal, giving families two weeks to order and one week for shipping. If you need shirts to arrive before camp starts, plan for a four-week lead time to be safe.
Yes. You can create separate product listings for different age groups, each with a distinct color or design, within the same shop. Families order the version appropriate for their child.
Yes. The Bear Grips catalog includes Youth Airlume Cotton Athletic Tee and Youth Moisture-Wicking Performance Tee, among other youth sizing options, in the same shop alongside adult sizes.
Bear Grips Pro Shops